e d i t [ a t ] s h i n y s h i n y n e w . c o m

What: Surf Steeped Punk

Where: Falmouth

Good live bands are an increasingly rare breed, bands that sound better in person than recorded are a few mating pairs away from holocaust. The Black Tambourines -who on record are lo-fi to the point of auto asphyxiation – are the most extreme example we’ve come across this year. ‘A Lot of Friends’, a jaw crunchingly crisp ode to popularity, is the caustic antidote to this polarity but elsewhere on their Soundcloud tracks that spasm with exuberance live, are disappointingly muddy and lost in opaque smears of reverb.

The problem clearly isn’t with their songwriting or talent – their set at last weekends Knee Deep was one of the best we’ve seen in 2013 [and promped this article] – its just that they don’t quite seem to have managed to transcribe this onto more than a couple of their recorded efforts.

Their debut Lp is coming out this summer and -if they’ve captured even a small fragment of what we saw last weekend- it’s going to be skull crushingly beautiful. If not, it won’t. A simple sum but one that could result in one of the best guitar-band debuts of the year.